Voltaire Against the Jews, or The Limits of Toleration

This book challenges Voltaire's doctrine of toleration. Can a Jew be a philosopher? And if so, at what cost? It seeks to provide an organic interpretation of Voltaire's attitude towards Jews, problematising the issue against the background of his theory of toleration. To date, no monograph entirely dedicated to this theme has been written. This book attempts to provide an answer to the crucial questions that have emerged in the past fifty years through a process of reading and analysis that starts with the publication of Des Juifs (1756), and ends with the posthumous publication of the apocryphal article 'Juifs' in the Kehl edition of the Dictionnaire Philosophique (1784). 

List of contents

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The Irreverent Hermeneut.- Chapter 3: The "Tolerated" The Aspiring Godfather Rabbi.- Chapter 4: The Forgetful Genealogist.- Chapter 5: The Aspiring Godfather.- Chapter 6: Conclusion.- Chapter 7: Epilogue: Did Voltaire Make an Exception for a Certain Jewish "Philosopher"?.

About the author

Marco Piazza is Associate Professor at the University of Roma Tre, Italy.

Product details

• Authors: Marco Piazza
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 02.01.2023
• EAN: 9783031187117
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3118711-7
• No. of pages: 182
• Dimensions: 148 mm x 14 mm x 210 mm
• Illustrations: IX, 182 p.
• Series: Palgrave Critical Studies of Antisemitism and Racism
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories